NB Muleless

NB Muleless
Moored at Alrewas Sept 2013

Saturday 7 November 2015

The Blog That Never Was (Posted)

We have now returned to our winter territory after a brilliant “summer” cruise.

I will try to do a series of blogs that bring us up to date – this may take a whilst!!

We finally left Ellesmere on 17 April heading up to Chirk again, this time we had some fabulous weather on the way across the aquaduct before heading through the tunnel.

DSCF8593DSCF8602

DSCF8606DSCF8615 

We didnt rush of course and it was on 19 April that we caught our first glimpse of the Pontcysyllte Aquaduct through the trees.

DSCF8643

after a quick top up of water we headed towards the aquaduct following a hireboat over.

DSCF8650DSCF8652DSCF8653DSCF8654DSCF8656DSCF8657DSCF8658DSCF8659

We were lucky enough to find a mooring in Trevor Basin, so went into the Telford Inn for Sunday Lunch, and then took a walk along the canal to check out the route for the next day.

The water is clear enough to see the bottom of the canal here – and you can make out the rock and where boats have scrapped through if they get too near to the edge!

DSCF8666

By the time we reached The Sun Trevor we needed refreshment!! Earlier we had needed coats, but now it had turned into a hot afternoon!

DSCF8667DSCF8668DSCF8671DSCF8673

In the distance and to the left of Gary is Castell Dinas Bran – which we will see much closer later!

On the walk back to Trevor Basin some black clouds were rolling in above the aquaduct.

DSCF8678DSCF8679

The next morning we left our nice mooring in the basin and headed down to the main canal,

DSCF8690DSCF8694

where Gary had to make a sharp right turn around all the hire boats – and nearly got stuck!

DSCF8697DSCF8698

but he did get round – could definately do without the hire boats moored there!

We set off at 9.40am (early for us!) and were lucky to only meet 3 boats heading towards us on the stretch up to The Sun Trevor, so managed to keep clear of that nasty rock near the edges. Here are some photos of that beautiful stretch of canal.

DSCF8706DSCF8710DSCF8717DSCF8729DSCF8741DSCF8744DSCF8746DSCF8747

The next stretch of the canal is only wide enough for one boat, so I had to run ahead to make sure no boats were on there way through.

DSCF8753DSCF8756DSCF8757DSCF8758

By the time we reached the next “narrow” section a couple of boats were following us which meant when we entered Llangollen mooring area where boats were heading out there was a bit of a hold up!

DSCF8773DSCF8775DSCF8776DSCF8780

DSCF8782DSCF8787

DSCF8790DSCF8791DSCF8794DSCF8796

After successfully negotiating all the narrow sections and other boats I could hop back on board for the final few hundred yards of navigable canal and into the basin.

DSCF8797DSCF8798

DSCF8800DSCF8801

We pulled in to a nice bankside spot and were soon tied up and plugged into electric. We paid our £12 fee for 2 days mooring and headed off to explore.

First stop was down to the river and drop into the Corn Mill for a drink on their lovely decking over the river.

DSCF8807DSCF8813DSCF8814DSCF8815

Next stop was Horse Shoe Falls

DSCF8824DSCF8828

and on the way back we dropped in to the Chainbridge Hotel for another drink and to admire the chainbridge being rebuilt.

DSCF8832DSCF8834

By the time we got back to the boat the Basin was filling fast, and just a short whilst later we even had a boat squeezed in next to us!

DSCF8840

The next day we hopped on the lovely steam train for a trip up the Dee Valley.

DSCF8843DSCF8845DSCF8846DSCF8851

We left the train at Carrog and headed over to the Grouse Inn for Lunch. We had a lovely meal and relaxed with a fantastic view whilst waiting for the train to return.

DSCF8868DSCF8869DSCF8871DSCF8875DSCF8876DSCF8877

We hopped on the train for the journey back to Llangollen.

DSCF8879DSCF8884DSCF8885DSCF8899DSCF8900DSCF8902

It was still such a lovely day we decided to walk up to Castell Dinas Bran.

DSCF8916DSCF8917DSCF8921DSCF8923DSCF8924DSCF8926DSCF8927DSCF8930

The walk back down was much quicker than the walk up!!

We had a fabulous time in Langollen and looking back now I think we had some of the best weather this year!

So on 22 April we were ready to head back down the Llangollen Canal – I think I had better save that for another blog!